by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
A major subplot of the novel I’m working on will be a presidential campaign that takes place kind of in the background and is used as something of a framing device. It is used because a presidential campaign is a great way — at least in my view — to slip in a lot of exposition as well as help explain some of the context of the story.
I still believe a lot of people need catharsis when it comes to what happened in 2016 and reading about it in fiction will likely do the trick. I mulled making the campaign allegory the entire novel’s plot, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the opportunity for a Hero who was involved in all that, but not direction. He has is own political issues he has to deal with, but he has a huge interest in the outcome of the race.
Anyway, it’s not going to be a direct 1-to-1 allegory. It’s going to be really muddled and maybe even so much so that it’s kind of comical. But the influence of what happened between Trump and Clinton will definitely be there. I hope that people respond in a positive manner, but a lot of it has to do with if my writing ability is up to the task.
